Badly burned and beaten body discovered south Houston

A body was found burning in a wooded area about 7:40 a.m. Friday in the 3400 block of Airport near Scott, according to the Houston Police Department. Officers were sent to the scene after a pickup was spotted in a ditch.

Photo By Cody Duty/Staff

After an apparently abandoned truck was spotted Friday at the bayou, police arrived to find a beaten body on fire in nearby woods in the 3400 block of Airport near Scott. An investigation is continuing.

A body was found burning in a wooded area about 7:40 a.m. Friday in the 3400 block of Airport near Scott, according to the Houston Police Department. Officers were sent to the scene after a pickup was spotted in a ditch.

The body of a man was found burned and beaten Friday in a wooded area in south Houston.

The body was found about 7:40 a.m. near a pickup that was spotted in Sims Bayou.

Police investigating the truck found evidence that led them to believe there might be more to the incident, said Kese Smith, a spokesman for the Houston Police Department. Smith did not elaborate on what evidence was found.

As they searched the area, officers found the man's burned body in the 3400 block of Airport near Scott, a short distance away from the pickup. It was unclear where the man had been assaulted or if a weapon was used in the attack. Investigators were trying to determine whether an accelerant was used.

Smith said the man had been violently assaulted and then his body was set on fire. The victim has not been identified, but police say he appears to be an African-American in his mid- to late 30s or early 40s.